In a last effort to repel Donald Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on most EU products at 30% on August 1, European Commission President Ursula von der Laeen concluded a preliminary agreement with the US President of the EU on Sunday.

“I don’t know exactly what day the horizontal duty will start. I can’t tell you right now when the exceptions from the horizontal duty we are working on with our US partners will begin to apply, “said Olof Gill, a spokesman for the EU Trade Executive Instrument, to reporters during information on Tuesday.

“All I can tell you is that we have avoided the worst case, we ended up at 15% and we will make it work technically at the least possible cost and minimal damage to our exporters,” Gill added.

Initially, the White House and the European Commission aimed to publish a joint statement by August 1st. Whether this will happen, however, is now uncertain, as many details have not yet been settled, Politico notes.

Gill said he could not say “when exactly this joint statement will be ready, but it should be soon”.

In addition, the White House and the European Commission have published separate newsletters on the agreement.

The White House states, for example, that “the European Union will pay the United States a 15%tariff rate, including cars and car spare parts, medicinal products and semiconductors.”

The EU Executive Body assures that the 15% duties for pharmaceuticals and semiconductors will only be imposed when “the US decides whether to impose additional tariffs on these products according to separate, ongoing US investigations”.

Further deviations still exist in terms of customs duties and the steel and aluminum duties, aluminum, joint health certificates and digital access to the market.

Gill rushed to defend EU regulatory autonomy.

“We do not change our rules … We do not move from our right to regulate the digital space autonomously,” he said.